


Out Of The Dark

by flimflam99



Series: Broken Hearts [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 18:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16687036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flimflam99/pseuds/flimflam99
Summary: Sequel to Broken Hearts.  Molly needs to get her life back but it isn’t easy.





	Out Of The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I can’t believe how long it is since I posted something but real life has been awful the last few months and writing and even wanting to write had taken a back step. Things are hopefully settling down again now. I started this back in June...

Molly woke up gradually. She felt safe and warm for the first time in months. She pressed her face deeper into the pillow she was holding tightly in her arms, inhaling Sherlock’s scent and letting it infuse through her body calming her even more. She smiled as she thought about the kisses they had shared yesterday, the way that Sherlock had held her hand tightly as they’d walked to and from the coffee shop. How solicitous he had been to her and how he seemed to instinctively know when she’d had enough, when she needed to go back to Baker Street to rest.

But she had tough decisions to make today. Yesterday when she had been just glad to be free again, that Sherlock loved her and wanted to be with her, everything was just perfect. But today -today she realised she had to get her life back.

Because she had lost it, her old flat was in ruins and everything that made her Molly Hooper had been taken from her. She knew that Sherlock had arranged for Mycroft to come around, to talk about her job and sorting everything so that Molly Hooper was no longer a dead person. She also knew that Sherlock thought she would be moving into Baker Street with him and that was where she was going to break his heart.

Molly sighed, her earlier happiness dissipating with the thoughts going through her head. She moved the covers back and got out of Sherlock’s bed. She quickly used the bathroom and then made her way into the Sitting Room. Sherlock was sat in his chair, deep in thought, his hands steepled under his chin. Molly moved closer to him and his eyes snapped open and a smile lit up his face. He held out his hand and Molly let him pull her onto his lap, his lips planting a swift but tender kiss on her lips.

“Good morning Molly, did you sleep well?”

Molly nodded and cuddled closer into him. Sherlock had let her have his room and he had slept on the sofa.

“Did you sleep at all Sherlock?”

“A little.” Sherlock admitted. Molly sat up and idly started fiddling with one of the buttons on Sherlock’s shirt.

“When Mycroft comes, I’m going to ask him to find me a flat”. Molly burst out. She felt Sherlock’s body stiffen and the arms that were around her fell away.

“I see” Sherlock said stiltedly.

Molly frowned. She knew this would not be easy but she had to try and make him understand.

“No I don’t think you do see” Molly slid off his lap and started to pace around the room.

“I was held against my will for three months, they cut and dyed my hair, I didn’t even have my own clothes. I was constantly monitored and I felt so alone and afraid. I thought my friends didn’t even care where I was.”

Sherlock opened his mouth but Molly cut in before he could speak.

“And then you found me and I realised that Moriarty had faked my death, blown up my flat and now I have nothing of my own. I have no clothes, no money, no job and I need to get all that back.” She turned at last to Sherlock and she could still see he was confused.

“But you can have all that here! Mycroft will be here later....”

“I know!” Molly interrupted. “And please don’t think I don’t want to do that, to move in with you, build a life with you. But we’re just starting out in this relationship and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardise that, don’t you see it’s too soon?”

“But you could have John’s old room upstairs, we can take things as slow as you want.” Sherlock still didn’t understand, Molly thought shutting her eyes in frustration.

“I need to do this Sherlock. I need to get back to how I was, before I can move forward. When I was at uni I crashed my car, I was petrified to drive it again but my dad made me. He said to get in the car and just drive before I lost my faith in driving. That’s what I need to do here, I need to get back in the drivers seat. I need to take back control of my life. But I’m going to need help Sherlock, I’m going to need my friends, I’m going to need you.” Molly took a deep breath and then she felt Sherlock’s arms around her, his lips against her hair.

“You have me” he whispered. “You’ll always have me.” He kissed her gently and slowly. “Of course you need to do this, I’m sorry for being selfish.”

“You’re not being selfish Sherlock. I love you and yes I hope eventually we will move in together, I just want it to be for the right reason”.

Sherlock just nodded his head and held her tightly in his arms.

———————————————-

Sherlock lay on his bed waiting. Molly and Mycroft were in the Sitting Room and had been in there for over an hour. Mrs Hudson and Mary were upstairs sorting out John’s old room, even though Molly had decided to get another flat it would be several days before she found one and would be able to move into it.

Sherlock was still in two minds over Molly’s decision. To begin with he thought that she was already regretting being in a relationship with him which had made his blood run cold. Once she had reassured him Sherlock could see her point, Molly was an independent woman and had lived on her own for several years. He could understand her need to show the world she was still that independent woman despite what happened to her. There was a small voice in Sherlock’s mind, sounding suspiciously like John who also reminded him that he still hadn’t told her how much he had missed her in the two years he had been away, how he’d realised how much she meant to him and how after he found out that she had ‘died’ he had been inconsolable for days.

John had managed to persuade Molly to see a therapist later that afternoon and tomorrow Mary, Mrs Hudson and Anthea planned to take her on the ultimate shopping trip for new clothes and things. Sherlock planned on reorganising his mind palace after the events of the last few days.

A slight tap on his bedroom door broke Sherlock’s train of thought. He got up off his bed and opened the door. It was Mycroft.

“Molly told me you wanted to see me?” Mycroft lifted his eyebrows questioningly.

“Yes. Please take a seat” Sherlock motioned to his bed and the two of them sat rather awkwardly on the edge of his bed.

“After Molly’s flat blew up, did you manage to recover any of her things?” Sherlock asked.

Mycroft nodded. “I haven’t mentioned it yet to Miss Hooper but the entire building was searched by my people. Some of her belongings were recovered.”

“So where are they? And why haven’t you told her this?” Sherlock asked in a huff.

“Her belongings were sent to her next of kin as in fact was the money in her bank accounts. I have arranged for that money to be restored to her, I also had to make a rather uncomfortable telephone call to her life assurance company. They’d made a rather large payout to her beneficiary.” Mycroft shuddered slightly.

“Who is her beneficiary?” Sherlock grumbled.

Mycroft raised his eyebrows. “Why you of course, brother dear. I put all of Molly Hopper’s belongings that were recovered in storage for when you came back. I was just waiting for the right moment to inform you when you found Molly Hooper in Moriarty’s clutches.”

———————

Sherlock found himself the next day in Mycroft’s house in the cavernous basement searching through the remnants of Molly’s things, although searching probably wasn’t the word for it. There was scarcely anything there. Sherlock did find some pieces of jewellery, twisted and blackened as it was and a bronze cat figurine. He took all of it to a local jeweller who owed him a favour and he promised to get them all cleaned and repaired later that day. 

The cat figurine had reminded him of two things though. He remembered one of Molly’s colleagues in the lab talking to her about a fire that his parents had suffered at their home and how upset they were at the loss of their photos. Molly had taken this to heart and had all her photos and videos digitalised and then stored online. A quick call to Mycroft and it was arranged that hard copies of all Molly’s photos and CD’s of her videos would be sent to 221B. 

It also made him wonder what had happened to Molly’s cat, Toby. A quick call to Mycroft and it was confirmed that Toby was alive before Molly was kidnapped and no feline remains were found in her flat. Sherlock then spent the rest of the day searching the local pet shelters. Luckily he struck gold at the last shelter, for there looking woebegone and abandoned was Molly’s beloved cat, Toby. The assistant was quite pleased to find Toby’s owner was still alive, one of Molly’s neighbours had found him and brought him in and after enlisting Mycroft’s help (again!) Sherlock was allowed to bring him back to Baker Street complete with food, toys and litter tray.

 

—————————————

Molly was tiredly lounging on Sherlock’s sofa. Mary and Anthea had just left and Mrs Hudson had gone back downstairs to await some deliveries for Sherlock. Molly had never bought so many clothes in one go in all her life. Mary and Anthea had been fantastic and had encouraged her to buy what she wanted but also picked out clothes that Molly wouldn’t normally choose but looked great on her once she’d tried them on. 

She heard the front door slam and a few minutes later Sherlock came bounding up the stairs. He entered the flat carrying a large cardboard box which he set down on the coffee table in front of her. He smiled broadly at her which made her breath hitch in her throat and then he bent down and kissed her, a short but sweet kiss.

“Sherlock, are you ok?” Molly was concerned as Sherlock seemed quite hyper. “Is that for a case?” She nodded at the box.

“I’m fine. The box is for you, open it.” Sherlock threw himself on the sofa next to her and watched impatiently as she opened the box. Inside were two further boxes. She took out the top smaller box and opened that. She gasped as she saw what was inside taking out the bronze cat figurine.

“But this is just like what I had at home, where did you find it?” She caressed the figurine with her fingers. “I didn’t realise before but the expression on its face is just like how Toby looked after he’d settled down for a nap” Sherlock squeezed her shoulder in sympathy even though he knew Toby was safely downstairs with Mrs Hudson.

“It is yours, Molly. After the explosion Mycroft’s people went through the block of flats and this is some of the things they found in your flat. It’s not much I’m afraid.”

“But this is fantastic. Mum and dad gave me the figurine for my birthday one year.” Molly set it aside and found the jewellery. She held out a necklace.

“Dad gave me this for my eighteenth and this ring for my 21st.” She turned to Sherlock and hugged him which Sherlock quite happily reciprocated . “But I don’t understand how do you have them?” She queried.

“Which is the bit that I don’t understand, apparently I was your next of kin. Mycroft put it all in storage for when I got back and then promptly forgot to tell me. What I don’t understand is why I’m down as your next of kin”.

Molly went red.

“It was when I had to have a small operation. I had to give someone and you were the first person I thought of. It was just some red tape I needed to fill in, I never thought anymore of it.”

Molly then found the photos.

“How did you get these?” She gasped in surprise. 

“Well. I got Mycroft to access your online photo account and had them printed off. I did order a set of your videos on DVD but they won’t be here for a couple of days”.

He left Molly looking through the photos, and casually made his way downstairs on the pretext of getting some sugar from Mrs Hudson. He collected Toby who was a bit annoyed as he’d settled himself on Mrs Hudson’s sofa.

Molly turned as he came back in the room and her eyes shot up as she saw him holding a cat in his arms.

“You got me a cat? Sherlock ....”

“Not just any cat Molly” Sherlock interrupted. He put Toby in her arms.

“Toby? B-but it can’t be. Jim told me he’d killed him” Sherlock’s face cleared in understanding as to why Molly hadn’t asked after her cat before. Molly started to cry into Toby’s fur, Toby was decidedly unimpressed but started to purr anyway. “Thank you Sherlock!”. Molly lifted her head up and leaned into him, putting her hand up to his face so she could kiss him.

......................................................

The room was crowded with many of Molly’s friends and acquaintances from St. Barts. Molly felt the smile on her face which started out as genuine just a few hours ago, start to slip. She had gone back to work at Barts earlier in the week and had moved into her new flat the weekend before. It had been Mary’s idea for the flat-warming/welcome back from the dead party, Sherlock had been completely against the idea. Mycroft had worked his magic and came up with a plausible reason for Molly to still be alive that made no mention of either Moriarty or her involvement with Sherlock’s “fall”. 

“Molly?” A hand touched her elbow and Molly turned to see Mary’s anxious face staring at her. “Are you ok?”

Molly nodded and smiled wanly. The two had become quite close over the last two weeks. Sherlock and John had gone away for a case and Mary had come over every night for the last week to keep Molly company and to help her set up her new flat. 

“You don’t look ok”. Mary looked quite concerned. “In fact you look like you haven’t slept for a week”. 

Molly just shrugged “I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ve tried everything short of sleeping tablets but nothing seems to work.”

“Are you still having nightmares?” Mary frowned at her friend worriedly.

Molly tried to respond but several of her work colleagues came up to her to say their goodbyes and it was a good fifteen minutes before Molly was able to join her friend, collapsing next to her on the sofa.

“I’m going to kill him” Mary looked furious and Molly turned to her in surprise.

“Kill who?” There was only the two of them left so Molly didn’t have a clue who she meant.

“Sherlock, who else?” Mary spat out. “I know they only finished the case this morning but John managed to show his face for half an hour, but could Sherlock? Oh no he couldn’t possibly take the time to go to his own girlfriend’s house warming party!”

Molly gaped at her. She knew that Mary had a soft spot for Sherlock and was surprised that she seemed so angry.

“I wasn’t expecting him. You know it’s not his thing, Mary”. Molly tried to reason with her friend but she just snorted and took a long gulp of her drink. Molly sighed and Mary looked instantly contrite.

“Oh I’m sorry Molly, it’s just he makes me so annoyed sometimes. It didn’t help with that case coming up, he should have been here with you and instead he just takes off without a second thought”. Mary finished her drink and then stood up, finding her shoes and putting them back on before taking her and Molly’s glass into the Kitchen.

“I’d better go or John will be sending out a search party”. She turned and hugged Molly. “Will you be ok?”. Molly nodded and gently extricated herself. “You know where we are if you need us and if his lordship doesn’t show up I’ll get John to sort him out!” 

With another quick hug she was gone leaving Molly alone to face another night of trying to get some sleep. 

She made her way into her bedroom, turning lights off as she went. As she entered her bedroom she didn’t bother to switch on the light, she just made her way over to the bed and slipped her shoes off. 

“I’m sorry.” The voice came out of nowhere and she gasped in surprise. 

“Sherlock?” Molly reached over and switched on the lamp on her bedside table. Sherlock was sat up on her bed, fully clothed.

“Mary was right. I shouldn’t have taken that case, I shouldn’t have left you and I should have come to your party”. He looked sadly at her and Molly instantly went to him, sitting down next to him at the edge of her bed.

“It’s ok, Sherlock. In fact you were right, I could have done without all this tonight. It was nice seeing everyone and being made a fuss of but it was too soon after going back to work and getting the flat. I’m so tired, Sherlock!” The last sentence came out tearfully and Sherlock pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly, stroking her back and Molly gradually calmed down and fell asleep.

.............................................

Molly arrived at John and Mary’s earlier than expected. She rang the doorbell and waited rather more impatiently than usual for the door to open. Luckily it was Mary who opened the door. She took one look at Molly’s face and dragged her into the house and into the Sitting Room. John was nowhere to be seen.

“Molly, what on Earth is the matter?” Mary quickly handed her friend a tissue and Molly wiped her eyes and face before plunking herself down on the sofa. Mary sat next to her.  
“The night of the party, I slept with Sherlock....” Molly began.

“Really?” Mary gasped in amazement, a huge grin in her face, then her smile dropped, Molly wasn’t smiling.

“Not like that!” Molly exclaimed. “We just slept. He held me in his arms and I had the best night’s sleep ever”.

“Ok... But you wanted more?” Mary guessed.

“No! It’s much too soon, Sherlock is only just getting used to having “feelings”.” 

“Then I don’t understand. What’s upset you?” Mary handed Molly another tissue.

“The party was the day before yesterday, so the night before last I had a good nights sleep. But last night when Sherlock wasn’t there, I couldn’t sleep. Not a wink! Before the party, the last time I slept well was the night I last slept in Sherlock’s bed....” Molly trailed off.

“Oh i see” Mary nodded in comprehension. “Where it smelt of Sherlock.”

“I can’t sleep without him” Molly burst out, fresh tears pouring down her face. “How sad does that make me?”

“Molly love.” Mary put her arms round her and held her close. “It’s ok. Think about what you’ve been through, is it any wonder that you need him close to you?”

“But I’ve never needed anyone like that before and this is Sherlock we’re talking about, can you imagine what he’d say if I asked him to stay with me every night?”

“I would be amenable” Molly and Mary both turned in surprise at Sherlock standing in the doorway.

“How long have you been there?” Mary snapped crossly.

“Long enough. Mary I need to speak to Molly alone.” Mary stared at him. “Please?” He added. Mary nodded, squeezed Molly’s hand reassuringly and then left. Sherlock took her place on the sofa next to Molly.

“Sherlock...” Molly began.

“When I was destroying Moriarty’s network, I was alone for most of the time. One night I was in an old barn in the middle of nowhere. I had no light, no heat and no food, the only water was from a stream at the end of the field. I was cold, tired and hungry but worse than that I was alone and lonely. I always thought that being alone was better but I was never really alone until then. I had mummy and father, Mycroft, George Lestrade, Mrs Hudson and then John.” Sherlock paused. “And you. I thought about you a lot, Molly and I had the time to process what you meant to me. Time I’d never given myself before and I vowed that when I got back home I was going to take you out for coffee, ask you on a date. But then when I got back you were dead and I just felt dead inside too and when I found you that night, it was the best night of my life but also the worst because you hated me, Moriarty had made you hate me.”

Sherlock bent his head, holding onto Molly’s hands for dear life. “I love you Molly” he whispered. Molly pulled her hands out of his grasp and pulled him towards her. “I may not be able to show it, but I do and that’s why if you want me to stay with you tonight, tomorrow, the next day, forever, either here or at Baker Street or wherever, I will. I’ll be there for you Molly because you support me just as much as I support you”

Molly realised then that needing Sherlock with her wasn’t making her look weak it was making her stronger and that together they would be able to take on all the ups and downs of life.


End file.
